some populists

I've plugged All the King's Men, both the book and the movie.(1949 version) in these annals, I don't recall if either of the dawgs was moved to read it or watch it.  The movie was based on the book and the book was based on Huey Long who was shot ten years before I was born.  Now there was a populist.  If you consider giving money to the poor (or promising to) a leftist thing to do, then he was to the left of the Roosevelt. 

In the book and the movie he is a rather nice hick who gets pissed off when the local school collapses and he learns that this was because it was made of shoddy materials and campaigns to run for some local office and gets stiffed by the powers that be, which gets his back up, and he campaigns even harder and wins one office and then another.  The story is told through the eyes of a cynical yet idealistic (all cynics are failed idealists) reporter who is sympathetic, but somewhat mocking of Willie Stark (the character's name) at the beginning, but then becomes a true believer, but less and less a believer as Willie, having amassed all this power to do go, uses it to increase his power.

I don't know if you remember a guy named Fred Harris from Oklahoma.  He was a minor candidate running in the 72 and 76 dem primaries.  He came to campus in one of those years and we lefty student types were glad to have him.  All the other dems seemed mealy mouthed in light of his fiery rhetoric, smash the establishment, right on!  But when we tried to suss him out on race he didn't want to say much and we rather lost interest,

Trump having been born pretty rich, and not at all interested in redistributing any wealth (except for the stuff that goes into his pocket), doesn't fit into the mode of Willy or Fred.  He really doesn't promise the people much.  The only thing I can think of offhand is lowering drug prices which is kind of a toss away line that not much has been done about.  What he offers them is hate and they eat it up because they are plenty angry too.  If he had a brain, and I don't think he does. he would be glad that he has not built The Wall, because in actual fact it would be a tawdry thing and do little to keep anyone out, but as an ideal, as something to rant about, it is so much more, how the crowd does roar just at the name of it, and isn't that really what it is all about?